Jackson High School to hold big band, percussion concerts (03/28/07) Jackson's school music program will be featured in two upcoming concerts Friday and Monday. The first concert is the 12th annual Big Band Dance concert, taking place from 7:30 to 11 p.m. at the Jackson High School gymnasium. The Jackson High School Jazz Band, 26 students under the direction of Tom Broussard, will take the stage first, playing a repertoire from the Big Band era...

Local band competing for spot on CMT's 'Studio 330 Sessions' (02/16/07) A local alternative country band has a chance to get some national exposure through a Country Music Television Internet contest. CMT unveiled its "Music City Madness" contest Tuesday. The Web-based competition pits 64 unsigned country artists against each other for a chance to record an episode of CMT's "Studio 330 Sessions."...

Classic rock may return to district fair's stage with REO Speedwagon (02/09/07) Classic rock may return to the SEMO District Fair grandstand this year after an absence in 2006. The official Web site of the classic rock band REO Speedwagon says the band will perform in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 14 at Arena Park at the "Southeast Missouri Fair."...

Music man: Jackson teacher honored by state organization (02/09/07) The name Nick Leist is a sacred term in the Jackson music department. Nine years after his retirement from the district, the man who taught band in Jackson for 30 years has a godlike status in the halls of the district's acclaimed music program. "Every once in a while we'll say something like 'Mr. Leist started this way of teaching' or 'We played this song when he was here,'" said Scott Vangilder, one of Jackson's current band directors and one of Leist's former students...

Dropping some science on your mix tapes (02/06/07) Standing in my basement, my finger poised over the record button, I wait patiently for a good song to come on my radio. There it is: "The Sign" by Ace of Base. Record. Deodorant commercial. Pause. "I Swear" by All-4-One. Record! At 11 years old, I decided to claim a musical identity and create my first mix tape, purging myself forever of my mother's old Neil Diamond tapes...

The end of summer camp for Doom in the A.M. (02/06/07) You don't normally see grown men crying and hugging each other at a punk-rock show. But when Doom in the A.M. ended their nearly year-long reign of terror at Ragsdale's on Jan. 25 (playing on a triple bill with Minus the Star and Moodminder), the crowd -- many of whom had been getting drunk alongside bandmates since their first practice sessions in drummer Jon Thrower's basement last spring -- turned surprisingly wistful for a bunch of twenty-something punks and poets...

Fists of Phoenix coming of age (02/06/07) Fists of Phoenix frontman Daniel Seabaugh is no longer a teenager. "I just turned 20 last week," he says. He's standing on the stage of the Enchanted Forest, the sawdust-covered upstairs venue owned by his parents, and talking to guitarist Ian Bolton about the song he's just written...

Birth of Cape's Cool (02/06/07) Fill, Cape's very own jazz-rock sensation, started playing open mic nights at The Camp on Main Street ... when it was alive and kicking. Guitarist Chris Stephens and bassist Wes Ables met drummer Brandon Glenn during an improvisational jam thrown together by Bob Camp himself. After what has been described by Wes as a "horrible moment of beautiful noise," Fill was born -- and so was the smooth section of the current local music scene...

Bentley-Lambert concert booked at Show Me Center (01/29/07) Country music fans can look forward to another country concert at the Show Me Center in the coming weeks. Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert will perform at the Show Me Center March 9. Radio personalities Bobbi Ann Mason and Katie Carson of K103 FM made the announcement Sunday night before the Sara Evans and Radney Foster concert at the Show Me Center. The concert date had not yet been added to Bentley's Web site Sunday night...

SEMO hopes bigger stipends double band size (01/27/07) Southeast Missouri State University hopes that bigger stipends will help double the size of the Golden Eagles Marching Band in the coming school year. Last fall, 75 students were members of the school's marching band. Barry Bernhardt, who directs the marching band, said he'd like to see the band expand to 150 to 200 members...

The John D. Hale Band lives to defy the country music establishment. (01/26/07) John D. Hale and his co-conspirators in the John D. Hale Band (JDHB) have a loud, clear message for the Nashville country music establishment. Unfortunately, that message can't be printed in the pages of this newspaper. But think about Johnny Cash's famous ad flipping the bird to the camera during his 1990s career revival, and you get the picture...

Support your local musician (01/26/07) Last weekend I went out on the town for a night of live music and drinks -- by far the best way to spend a weekend night in Cape. I'm a musician and music lover, so maybe I'm biased, but for my money a few hours of loud, live rock music and intoxication beats dinner and a movie any time. This is real, vital entertainment. You can see the people on stage right in front of you, hear the sound of their fingers sliding along the fretboard, even smell their sweat if you want...

'American Idol' music cred strong and growing as it enters season 6 (01/12/07) NEW YORK -- When "American Idol" made its debut five years ago, it was decried by some as another vapid reality show attempting to create another vapid pop star -- and at first glance, the critics seemed to be right. There were geeky contestants warbling cheesy ballads, dramatic divas over-singing their way through a song, and it's panel for judging talent included Paula Abdul...

Percussion prima donnas (01/12/07) One fact I've learned in my decade-plus of being an amateur rock musician: You can't rock without a drummer. Sure, lots of people out there may make the case that you can: New Wavers with their drum machines, folkies with their acoustic guitars and bongos. Simply put, they're wrong...

Folk duo slated to perform Thursday (12/13/06) The touring folk duo Small Potatoes will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at Port Cape Girardeau as part of Southeast Public Radio's Folk Coffee House concert series. The Chicago-based band, made up of Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso, has been touring the folk circuit since 1993, playing clubs and coffeehouses throughout the United States. Their eclectic mix of music integrates country, blues, swing and Irish styles...

'Concert for Sahara' bigger success than first thought (12/12/06) Friday night's "Concert for Sahara" raised more money than officials at the Show Me Center initially estimated, the center's director David Ross said Monday. The concert was a collaborative effort between music and TV star Rick Springfield and the Show Me Center to raise funds for local 12-year-old Sahara Aldridge in her battle against brain-stem cancer. ...

When soft rock and rap collide (12/05/06) Some musical genres are natural fodder for hip-hop beats: funk, soul, jazz -- even hard rock. But light rock? Mixing soft acoustic strains with aggressive 808 beats can be a recipe for disaster -- or genius. When it works, the counterintuitive blend can be tasty -- like ranch dressing on hot wings. Other times, the mixture is more like dipping nacho chips into whipped cream. Just ask Jay-Z...

Christmas comes early (11/24/06) Christmas gets sweeter every year for Jerry Ganiel and the Heartland Pops Orchestra and Chorus he directs. The combined ensemble of about 50 musicians and singers started performing an annual Christmas concert five years ago in Cape Girardeau. And every year, the concert's popularity has grown, Ganiel says...

A musical feud (11/24/06) Cape's music scene has seen its share of feuds in the past -- bands warring with club owners and each other is just part of any healthy scene. It's the kind of behavior that shows our local musicians have passion, and what's better than passion? I'd hate to think this, but I may be partially responsible for the scene's latest feud, one that turned just slightly ugly this past weekend at Broussard's...

McClure topless bar books concert (11/24/06) MCCLURE, Ill. -- The tops will be on at the HushPuppy Saloon in McClure on Wednesday when reconfigured hard rock band Skid Row performs at a bar known for its topless dancers. Club owner Jamie Thompson said this is the first time he's booked a band to play the strip club in the time he's owned the HushPuppy, since April 2005. The club will hold about 800 people as a concert venue, Thompson said. In the future he may decide to book more shows at the HushPuppy...

Ohio group coming to Cape concert (11/18/06) CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A Cincinnati broadcast journalist who's between jobs has found a new temporary occupation -- mobilizing as many people as possible from his hometown to visit Cape Girardeau for Rick Springfield's Dec. 8 "Concert for Sahara." Michael Manning, a broadcaster who has worked with ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates in radio and TV, has rented a 56-seat tour bus he hopes to fill with Cincinnati residents for the local Springfield concert...

Jazz Man: Dr. Bob Conger has increased the number of public performances (11/17/06) If his office decor is any indication, students must love Dr. Bob Conger. Scattered among what some would term a mess of recording gear (including an ancient Magnavox reel-to-reel recorder), brass mouthpieces, binders full of music literature and books on music theory are mementos from his previous schools: a plaque naming him teacher of the year at a former middle school and a framed piece of embroidery anointing Conger "world's best band director." Among the memorabilia are items that give visitors to Conger's office a hint of his personality -- a photo autographed by Southeast Missouri State University mascot Rowdy, a black and white poster of Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis in Sun Studios, pictures of Conger and music department chairman Dr. ...

TSO captures Christmas magic — again (11/16/06) The Trans-Siberian Orchestra didn't have to worry about keeping its Christmas rock opera fresh in its third trip to Cape Girardeau in as many years -- more people turned out to see TSO this year than in either of the previous two. In 2004, 4,300 attended TSO's inaugural Cape Girardeau show. Last year, about 5,000 witnessed the spectacle. This year, 5,500 attended Wednesday night's local installment of TSO's 2006 tour at the Show Me Center...

Heavy metal Christmas carols (11/10/06) When the Trans-Siberian Orchestra first came to Cape Girardeau in 2004, they were probably met with looks of bewilderment. "When we walk into town for the first time most people think we're a bunch of Russians," jokes TSO guitarist Al Pitrelli. "Let's dispel that myth."...